By Joseph Keenan

Drugmaker Sanofi inked a five-year deal with CRO Thread to provide its services for decentralized clinical trials and electronic clinical outcome assessments for its integrated patient platform.

The collaboration is part of Sanofi’s move to adopt more technology solutions via its Act4Patients program to improve diversity, inclusion and accessibility for trial participants, Thread said in a Jan. 17 press release.

Financial details of the deal weren’t disclosed.                                           

“This collaboration will enhance our efforts to connect and engage patients and investigators as we continue on our mission to decentralize clinical trials and extend these life-changing opportunities to more patients across the world,” Sanofi’s senior vice president and global head of clinical sciences and operations, Lionel Bascles said in the release.

Last April, Thread snapped up technology firm Cureclick for an undisclosed price as part of the CRO’s push to expand its decentralized trials business. That deal was followed up with an announcement in June that it entered into a collaboration deal with Bezyl to provide clinical trial patients with access to the digital mental health company’s app and support systems.